Shadows Cast Across Canyons

Shadows Cast Across Canyons

Written by: Dave DeRose

I always thought I was special.

That I had something more.

I’d save the world like Captain America!

Throwing the football across the street; I was John Elway.

Putting the perfect spiral on the Super Bowl winning touchdown.

Never a thought of mediocrity…

Now 28, I feel nothing but mediocre.

I'm not sure if you'll know my meaning 

Nor do I think these words are new.

Feeling like a pebble on a beach.

Falling into an existential abyss.

So I escaped.

Far, to a desert land.

Found a canyon.

Climbed to the highest point.

Looked across the canyon to see my silhouette excitedly waving its arms above its head…

I cast a shadow across this great canyon.

Here I found peace.

Realizing that’s what our lives are.

Shadows cast across canyons.

Step Out

Step Out

Written by: Dave DeRose

It is time to identify and discuss the root cause of the racial tensions that we face today. It is important to mention that this discussion shouldn’t just be limited to race, but also religion, sexual orientation, and nationality. However, as race is at the forefront of national conversation, I will use it as a vehicle on which to propel and express my understanding. I have come to the conclusion that there is a specific equation that, when calculated, gives us our current state or racial tension. The equation goes; marginalization + removal of dignity x (privilege + lack of empathy) = the state of our current society. Race is the unfortunate variable that is used to create unfair, perpetual, and systemic degradation. When this topic is sincerely investigated, it is impossible to deny this truth. I will break down the parts of this equation and give a solution; a new equation for our future.

To marginalize, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “to put or keep (someone) in a powerless or unimportant position within a society or group.” If you look around to CEOs, politicians, principals, and any other positions of power, there is an overwhelming lack of diversity. It has been proven in the research of John Nunley and Adam Pugh (2014). They sent out 9,400 resumes, equal in experience and degree obtained. They found that African-American applicants were 16% less likely to be called in for an interview. The results were increased when the job was for a position that is customer facing. This is an unfair study as it assumes that there are equal numbers of qualified candidates. It doesn’t take into consideration the obstacles the majority of black families face is obtaining competitive degrees (i.e. poverty, access to materials, and cultural capitol). So, even in the utopia of this experiment where all is equal, there is still a substantial disadvantage of being black. That is marginalization.  

Dignity, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “the quality of being worthy of honor and respect.” When people are marginalized, dignity is stripped away. Without dignity identify is lost. This is expressed in how races other than white are portrayed in history books (or lack there of). When there is no strong sense of dignity, as is gained through identity, therein is created a power void. It is in this void that, I believe, there is an issue between the black community and the police. 

Why is there an excess of criminality in the black community? I think the answer in Sayani’s dissertation (2010) explains it best. In this case, he was interviewing members of a school (both teachers and students) about a group of students who were referred to as the “Brown Boys” within the school. They were second generation Pakistani and Indian children. Teachers feared them because of their behavior. When asked about their behavior one of the Brown Boys said, “We won't let history repeat itself. We’re taking control; it’s like we may not be the majority be we can take the power” (p. 165). When the powers that be perpetuate powerlessness, people seek to gain power how and where they can. This was expressed in Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken (2010). There are many instances where POWs would take a great risk to steal insignificant items just to assert control and reestablish dignity. They, as prisoners, were breaking the rules and some would say unnecessarily so. But, in breaking the rules of the system that was meant to break them, they gained power.  I know this is an extreme example, but I use it purposefully. The stripping of dignity through the POW camps serves as a severe example of what black people face in our country. There is an innate human need for exerting power and control in one’s life. When there isn’t equal access to power via the institutions that exist, the power void that is created will be filled with actions that are viewed as undesirable by that same institution.  

I know exactly what some of you are thinking, “There is no excuse for breaking the law.” “They should know better.” Or, “If they would just follow the law they wouldn’t have to deal with the police.” That is one I have been guilty of thinking on more than one occasion. Yet, thinking like this is what physiology describes as fundamental attribution error. Taking a person’s actions and attributing it to their character; not taking into consideration all the external forces that caused that behavior (as mentioned above). It is essential to our success as a community, even nation, to look past actions and, instead, discover to their root causes. What are the external motivational factors that led to criminality. How are institutions creating power voids in our communities? Why is there not equal access to power within this country?

Now I challenge you to practice empathy. Do you know what it is like to experience marginalization based on race? Where your skin color is a measurable aggregate of your academic success? Where your race is a measurable aggregate of your socioeconomic status? If you find yourself having trouble grasping these concepts, as I did, I recommend you go outside of your normal “circle” and have a conversation with someone who has faced these realities everyday of their entire life. Wait, don’t be so quick to throw me a roll of the eyes. If you think I am wrong, please go and have the conversation with a member of a different race, and if I end up being wrong, please let me know. I was fortunate enough to have friends who shared their truth with me: it was transformative. It is in these honest conversations that we can develop empathy. When we can address and accept that marginalization, removal of dignity, and the lack of empathy derived from privilege exist, we can begin to make a difference. If we do, our equation will change to; inclusion + acceptance + praise x empathy = an accepting society with equal access to power. 

The choice to act is genuinely up to you. I can not come to your house and introduce you to people. You will have to take a step outside your own door and meet people where they are at. This may be extremely difficult. It was, and often still is difficult for me. There have been times where I refused to go. I chickened out and nothing has disheartened me more. I am now, as I hope you will be, resolved to do this work. Experience the world through others eyes and you will be all the better for it. And, if we engage in empathy, individuals, households, communities, states, and even the nation will be better for it. We must first understand before we can act. 

Immanuel

Immanuel

Written by: David DeRose

Sweat beads cascading down her exhausted face.

Excruciating pain met with sublime relief

When a mother’s screams were exchanged with a baby's cry

Holding Him close to the chest,

Sweetly gazing at His face.

Each rise and fall of his back make the pain worth it.

His warm little body comforting her.

Their eyes meet, with a twinkle and a tear.

They whisper, “It is a boy… and we will call him Jesus.”

That sweet moment when,

The new parents gave a first glance

On the One who would give us all a chance.

From ear to ear, faces swallowed by grins.

– Gleaming –

This Boy would heal the world from sins.

This glorious day,

This momentous moment,

In walked two, and out walked three.

Hosanna

Sweater

Sweater

Written by: David DeRose

Outside, fat snowflakes fall

Heels sunk into the ottoman

Beneath my legs, a fluffy dog takes a deep breath

Reclined into a deep couch

Large pillows accept my back

Sigh

Hand laid over my forehead
Fingers pressing down towards my eyebrows
Soft woven sweater embraces my torso
Coffee warms my soul
Soaking in this moment
Rest
Music fills my ears with magnificent melodies
Daydreaming of adventures,
And moments yet to be captured excite my heart
Mind lost in wonder and possibilities
I am present in my mind
Peace

Bill O'Reilly, Who Are We

Bill O'Reilly, Who Are We?

Written by: David DeRose

Watch the O'Reilly/Simmons discussion here.

“With Malice towards none,With charity for all,With firmness in the right as God gives us the right,Let us finish the work we are in,To bind up the nation’s wounds,To care for him who shall have born the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace amongst ourselves and with all nations.” 

                                                                   – Abe Lincoln 2^nd Inaugural Address March 4, 1865

Love one another like family does.
Pure hearts; uncompromising.
Not as insolent children with grudges.

In contrast,
Bill O'Reilly rages at the black community for fatalities and drugs.
Condemning Russell Simmons like a Victorian judge,

Slamming remarks like a gavel. 
"Why don't you protest black violence?!?" O’Reilly exclaims.

“You weren’t there!” he accuses,

Verbs conveying verdicts - guilty.

His verdict for the black community.

I’m not mad at him.

I just think he is blind.

Blind to the fact that it is our shared verdict.
Why isn't HE protesting black violence?

How is he helping the situation that he so clearly diagnosed?
Who is he to judge?

How is this “their” fault?
Instead of pelting Russell Simmons with guilty sentences,

Lift him up with positive sentences,

Stop berating and start contemplating.
O’Reilly gains nothing pointing fingers.

His return on investment is perpetuating polarization.

He would do more with hugs. 
Embracing the reality that "Their success is our success!”

- Nelson Mandela. 
As people, we are connected.

Not some western caste system.
Designed for social cohesion.
Organizing and categorizing foreshadows already foreseen futures.
Only when there is chaos are things made clear.
This isn’t work for diverse populations but in homogeneous organizations. 

We are here together and... “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Realize, institutions and individuals are imperfect,

But as people we are perfect. 

So how can Bill O’Reilly, and other like him, actually help?

The answer is nothing new; love.
Love each other,

As family loves.

As Jesus loves.

Love is  not expressed with shouts and screams of blame.

But rather, shared in a whisper.

Hardly escaping lips audibly.

Intimate, warm, honest.

It’s the kind of love that asks tough questions,

And listens to authentic answers.

When heartbreak happens,

Love answers.

Love empathizes, hurts, and feels.

Then love acts; uncompromising.

Love is not an option, choice, or decision.

It is a duty.

To love is to feel pain.

To ignore pain is to authorize it.

Signing the dotted line with tears of mothers burying babies.

There is a deep pain that the white community needs to acknowledge,

 The despair our black and brown brothers and sisters.

This pain has been sanctioned ignorance

And discounted by the blindness of white privilege for far too long.

To be fair,

Maybe not every-one knew this pain existed.

Perfectly exemplifying the privilege they possess.

But now they do. 

The pain has been exposed.

The cries have been heard.

No longer shall we turn a deaf ear and blind privileged eye.

Time to listen to the pain.

Time to share the pain.

Time to act to fix the pain.

Pain is transformative.

Love and pain are parents to chaos.

Total loss of control.

Only chaos makes things clear.

Like a machete cutting through thickets of ignorance.

Step back, gestalt.
Whole lives have been lived and been devoted to causes

For me to observe and experience to obtain this realization.

I have seen, heard, and felt their struggle.

Impacted by countless lives,

Some known and others whose existence I will forever be unaware.

A river shaping rocks over time.

Direct impacts – stone to stone collisions – rattling my core

Unseen forces; weather, temperature, and snow-melt upstream

Shape my present perception of reality.

How many of these lives where white folks?

Black folks?

Native folks?

All cosmically connected

By an unquantifiable extent of happenstance.

Regardless of their race,

Over the millennia,

Countless individuals have lifted me up.

Regardless of my race.

My face.

My features.

They gave pace!

Like divine preachers.

Unknowingly illuminating my path with truth.

No judge or jury just fury.

Risking everything,

Attempting to move mountains.

Am I doing the same?

Are you, Bill O’Reilly?

Now you tell me, who are we?

So...

So... 

Written by: Dave DeRose

So...

So precious 

So frail

Hanging in the balance

On the tight rope

So high are aspirations

Action often met by aggravation

A messy made path

Unclear destination, and yet 

So far to go

So much desired to accomplish

So much at stake

So little say in the matter

Illusions of guaranteed time

Yet, so taken for granted

What words have I not spoken?

What affections not expressed?

What more could I have done?

So many things...

Bittersweet brevity

Dangling on the precipice of fate

5 Ways Teacher Education Programs Fail New Teachers

5 Ways Teacher Education Programs Fail New Teachers

Written by: Dave DeRose

I can’t believe I am saying this, but I have been teaching for six years. As I reminisce over the past years, I am reminded of the many struggles I faced. Struggles that irritated, stressed, and depressed me. I wasn’t alone either, I have had many friends – who were great teachers— leave the profession for good. As sad as that is, they left for a variety of reasons. Some found new passions, but most were pushed out; pushed out by society and various truths regarding education, public education specifically. Truths that they had never been given the tools to face. I believe teacher education programs are to blame. 

At one point, I was so distraught with the institution of education that I was going to quit to become a personal trainer (which had been a part time job I had for two years while teaching). Because I was able to weather the storm, I was able to conceive this list. It is my goal that in reading this, whether you are a professor, new teacher, a teacher-to-be, or a veteran teacher, that we can better implement strategies to support our future educators to deal with the realities that face them.

1.  Focusing too much on techniques that will never be used day-to-day.

I personally spent hours writing Madeline Hunter lesson plans, of which I have written zero in my actual career as an educator. While I believe that being able to identify a lessons objective and purpose, it is not something that needs to take up so much of the curriculum time. I offer instead, focus on the skills, will, and talent teachers will need to be successful. Examples of skills teachers actually need are prioritization and organization. You have 100 papers to grade, an IEP meeting, PLC meeting, and a pre-observation meeting, how do you plan on prioritize what you do first (also considering what documents you need to bring to each)? How will you organize your assignments? If a parent or administrator wants a body of evidence on a student, will your organizational strategy hold up?

2.  Focusing too much on “perfect case scenarios.”

Undergraduate education courses are full of fluffy language. Professors speak in flowery language depicting the role of teachers, how they will be received by the public, and by students. This creates a completely misguided vision of what “the classroom” will be like. Life is not a movie where they teacher comes in and magically saves the day. It takes so much more than a positive attitude and belief in education being the x-factor in improving station in life for students. It takes a knowledge of trials and tribulations schools actually face; which brings me to my next point.

3.  They don’t do case studies teachers actually face.

In doing case studies of realistic scenarios that schools actually face allows teachers-to-be an avenue to work on the problems they will actually face in the schools they will be working at. Have them solve problems like, “New teacher gets hired at a new school, teacher only knows how to use computers, projectors, and Smart Boards, and however the school has none of these resources. Teacher walks into the classroom and sees an overhead projector and chalk board. What resources does this teacher need? How can he/she improve her situation?” Acknowledging the actual state of education will prepare new teachers for the realities of the profession. Pretending like they don’t exist sets new teachers up for extreme stress and disappointment. They can handle the truth (unlike Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men”). Take the resolve they have and properly aim it, like a skilled archer, considering wind speed, rain, humidity, and distance.

 4.  They must learn to create a voice for communicating with different stakeholders around the school (i.e. parents, colleagues, and administrators).

There is no class that prepares teachers-to-be on how to communicate with the various stakeholders they will deal with on a daily basis. Why isn’t there a class that teaches how to write letters to parents when they have an issue with something that happened in class (i.e. student’s grade, content, or behavioral referral)? One that teaches how to communicate with administrators regarding needs teachers have in class (i.e. professional development, strategies, or support in dealing with a colleague)? This is an essential skill that is used daily in the career of a teacher that never is addressed in teacher education programs.

5. They need give teachers a vision for longevity in their career. 

Teaching is a unique profession. I am sure you hear that a lot, but hear me out on this. It is a job that people stay in because of its moral fiber, not due to pay raises/bonuses, vacations, or any perk imaginable that actually exist in other professions. The turnover rate is 70% in the first five years because teacher lose track of the importance of their moral standing: lost in the ambiguity of how society views success, lack of support by parents, and the inability to see if your impact directly. By clearly establishing a mission and vision for a teacher-to-be’s career will alleviate many of society’s pressures. When a teacher has a clear idea of what they are doing and why, they are more successful and will stick with the career.